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February 10, 2014

Media Gears Up for First Gay NFL PlayerRUSH: We've got the first gay player -- well, not "yet" player. The first gay, admitted gay prospect, from my home state, actually, University of Missouri, Mizzou. Michael Sam is his name and the sports media, the Drive-Bys are all atwitter over this. They just can barely contain themselves.

Aging America Heading for DisasterRUSH: Kyle Smith had a column in the New York Post yesterday that is bouncing off of a new book called The Demographic Cliff, and the point of this book is that there's nothing we can do. The demographics of our society, the demographics of our population are such that it's going to be impossible to have economic growth for the next generation or two, at least. We just don't have the bodies. We just haven't had enough population. The birth rate, replacement level just hasn't been there.

Immigration won't even fix it because they're not the kind of people that are gonna grow the economy. They're not high skilled workers. We're stuck. There is nothing we can do. We are trapped demographically. That's the theory. And so the Democrats may be onto this and say, "Okay, well, let's turn this into a positive for us. Let's make it look like we made it happen and it's a good thing and it's liberating." And politically it's just another thing that the Republicans are gonna have to come up with a way campaigning against.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: "Aging America Heading for Disaster." This is Kyle Smith, New York Post yesterday. He wrote a piece based on a new book called The Demographic Cliff, by Harry S. Dent Jr. "To really understand what’s going on with the American economy, don’t look at the headlines. Don’t look at the unemployment rate or the trade balance or the deficit. Don’t even look at what’s happening today at all: Look at what happened 46 years ago. And what happened then? Fewer Americas were being born.

"Following the Baby Boom, which peaked in 1961, came the Baby Bust, a long slow decline in the birthrate. Those babies grew up and began spending in accordance with highly predictable patterns." And this is kind of fascinating. According to the book, The Demographic Cliff, which, by the way, I downloaded it after reading Kyle Smith's piece. I bought the book, the e-book, and it's amazing. It presents some complicated data very simply.

"People tend, for instance, to buy houses at about the same age -- age 31 or so. Around age 53 is when people tend to buy their luxury cars -- after the kids have finished college, before old age sets in. Demographics can even tell us when your household spending on potato chips is likely to peak -- when the head of it is about 42." What, are you smirking in there over this? This is demographic research.

"Ultimately the size of the US economy is simply the total of what we’re all spending. Overall household spending hits a high when we’re about 46. So the peak of the Baby Boom (1961) plus 46 suggests that a high point in the US economy should be about 2007, with a long, slow decline to follow for years to come," according to Harry S. Dent Jr. and his book. It's all bodies. It's all productivity. It's all based on population. GDP is related to population, population growth, and following the Baby Boom generation we were not producing at birthrate replacement levels, much less growth.

Now, Harry Dent is a business consultant, stock market prognosticator and author who says that now is the time to sell stocks, talks about Japan, and basically says we're heading into a deflationary spiral and that immigration, more bodies, is not going to save us. He says even adjusted for immigration, the overall US population is aging. And the problem with aging people is they spend less. They've got the most money, but they spend the least. Their houses are paid for, for the most part, cars are paid for, the educations are paid for by the time they've reached 55 or 60. All the spending they engaged in when they were young and going into debt to build and acquire those things, that spending is over, and that's when the economy slows -- this is this guy's theory. And he claims, just an interesting thing to point out, that aging America is heading for disaster. It's gonna be a long time, and that immigration, an influx of new bodies, is not enough to compensate for the low birthrate.

I think all of this, obviously, is arguable, and I don't accept the premise that demographics alone determine the state of the economy. There are plenty of policies that could be implemented today that would jump-start this economy like a Saturn V rocket if we would just do it. Because, even with all this, there are still 92 million Americans not working. I don't care how old they are. That's not good. We don't have any kind of economic policy or series of policies that's designed to put people back to work, and that's also by design, sadly.

NBC Honors Soviet Union as "Pivotal Experiment"
RUSH: I've had people ask me if I'm watching the Olympics. I'm not, and I'm glad that I'm not. I didn't watch the opening ceremonies. I don't know. The Olympics ceased to be a sports matter of any interest to me a long, long time ago. But I've had my decision validated. I happened to read some of what was said in a recorded bit that they did during the opening ceremony, and it was a narration provided by Peter Dinklage, who's a dwarf actor in Game of Thrones.

Here's what he said. This is an excerpt. This is not the whole thing. I'm just gonna read it to you. It's a tribute to Russia, of course, which is the obligatory thing. Here you are, going to Winter Olympics. You're in Sochi. So you gotta do a tribute to Putin (which they did) and a tribute to Russia (which they did). It's obligatory, but still. "The towering presence, the empire that ascended to affirm a colossal footprint." That's how it starts, praising the Soviet Union.

"The revolution that birthed one of modern history's pivotal experiments." I am so glad I wasn't watching when that was broadcast. To refer to the Soviet Union as "one of modern history's pivotal experiments"? The millions of people slaughtered by the various regimes in the Soviet Union would shock people who don't know. "But if politics has long shaped our sense of who they are, it's passion that endures. As a more reliable right to their collective heart.

"What they build in aspirations, lifted by imagination. What they craft, through the wonder of every last detail. How magical the fusion of sound and movement can be. How much a glass of distilled perfection and an overflowing table can matter. Discover the Russian people through these indelible signatures. Discover what we share with them through the games that open here tonight."

Now, between that and the cheerleading for Putin, I'm just glad that I am not watching. There's nothing pivotal. I mean, pivotal experiment? Modern history? These people are still living with the lost dream of what could have been with the Soviet communist state. So no, I'm not watching. Aside from all that, ski jumping is about it for me. If I happen to be channel surfing and that was on, I'd stop. That fascinates me. But without Tonya Harding, you know, going down on Nancy Kerrigan's knees, there nothing for me.

Black Activists Drive Trader Joe's Out of Oregon NeighborhoodRUSH: Now, get this. Michelle Obama's constantly talking to us about "food deserts," right? She's constantly complaining that big-time supermarkets will not put healthy, fresh food in the 'hood. So, a chain tried to, and they were promptly kicked out. There are two stories on this, just to show you the different perspective. The first is from a little blog called Ben Swann Truth in Media. This is the first time I've run across it.

"Portland, Oregon, February 7, 2014 -- According to local media outlet, The Oregonian (Highlighted by the Associated Press), African American activists and politicians forced the Trader Joe's grocery chain to drop their plans for a new store in a predominately black community because the store would 'increase the desirability of the neighborhood,' for 'non-oppressed populations.' 'We run neighborhood stores, and our approach is simple,' said the grocery chain.

"'If a neighborhood does not want a Trader Joe's, we understand, and we won't open the store in question.' The Portland Development Commission offered a substantial discount to the grocery chain for a two acre parcel of land that appraised for $2.9 million. The land, which sat undeveloped for years, was offered to the chain for $500,000 in an attempt to bring high-paying jobs and prosperity," and healthy food and all that "to the neighborhood.

"The construction project, which was to include a two large anchor buildings and 10 retail shops, was promised to an African-American owned construction company. The Portland African-American Leadership Forum, along with the Mayor Charlie Hales, sent letters to Portland Development Commission citing that they were 'contributing to the destructive impact of gentrification and displacement of the African-American community.'

"They also said that they would remain opposed to all development of the land that doesn't solely benefit African-Americans." Now, the headline of the story: "Black Activists and Politicians Force Trader Joe's Grocery Out: Claim It Would Attract Too Many Whites." Now, when I saw that, I said, "Okay, I gotta be very careful here, because the Internet is filled with incendiary stuff that could be a trick." So I said, "I need to dig further into this." So I found an AP story about this.

It turns out that this blog pretty much has it right. We got Michelle Obama constantly complaining about "food deserts," and here we had a grocery chain that was gonna try to put a grocery store with healthy food in a black neighborhood, and the black neighborhood said, "Nope, because you might improve the neighborhood too much." The leaders of the black neighborhood and black politicians said, "No, no, no, no! Nope, nope. You're not gonna come in here.

"You're gonna 'increase the desirability of the neighborhood [for] non-oppressed populations.' We're not gonna have that!" Meaning: "We're not gonna let you come in here and change the makeup of our neighborhood no matter what. Okay, so the AP has a version of the story with a very, very misleading headline: "Trader Joe's Drops Black Neighborhood Store Plan -- Critics said the development would displace residents and perpetuate income inequality in one of the most rapidly gentrifying ZIP codes in the nation."

Meaning what?

Why do we even have to worry about "income inequality" now when the whole push is for not working, period? I mean, they can't have it both ways. Obama's out there saying, "Hey, middle America! Give America a raise!" Why? Why? We want to "liberate" people from having to work, period. Why give 'em a raise? Now we don't want to "perpetuate income inequality" by bringing in what? A grocery store that's high class by comparison? "We're not gonna have that. Can't have it. That raises the property values, other people want to move in, and then that would make the neighborhood really unlike what it is now. We can't have that."

So the grocery store comes in, property values go up, brings in a new wave of people who can afford the new property values and that changes what used to be there and would improve the neighborhood, and we can't do that. It might improve the schools. We can't do that. Apparently, because that would all happen, we can't have this grocery store. That's what the black leadership, that's what the blog said, it's what the AP story apparently confirms. (interruption) Well, I wouldn't go that far. That's what they're really saying, keep a ghetto a ghetto? Well, if that's what they're saying, then they can't complain anymore about not having healthy food in there, which is a bogus claim that Michelle Obama makes anyway. It's not even factually correct in the first place.